YEAR
by Jag M7
Summary: An ODST signs up to be in a program of super-Spartans called YEAR. But it goes terribly wrong and chaos spreads through the galaxy. Takes place after HALO 4. Please R&R. Major fail alert! FanFiction kinda screwed with the documents so some punctuation is missing. I will work on fixing that. Hopefully it will not interfere with being able to understand the story.
1. Prologue

The infamous war criminal, Doctor Catherine Halsey, sat in a dim room at a metal table.

She was being interrogated but her mind was elsewhere.

She remembered a room, filled with hundreds of glass boxes, each holding a sleeping child.

Except for one, the child in it, John 117, was wide awake.

"Tell me about the children." The interrogator ordered.

Halsey continued to think.

"Doctor Halsey?" His voice brought her back to the present.

"You already know everything." She said in a cold voice.

The interrogator set down his mug on the table and raised is hands sympathetically.

"You kidnapped them." He said in frustration.

She again remembered the history of a Spartan, how they went from being helpless kids with unnatural body modifications happening all around them, to the towering warrior that amazed everybody.

"Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier. And because of our success, when the Covenant invaded, we were ready."

She recalled a massive Covenant cruiser looming over a human city.

A swarm containing hundreds of Banshees showered the metropolitan area.

"Dr. Halsey, you're bending history in your favor and you know it. You developed the Spartans to crush human rebellion, not to fight the Covenant." The interrogator argued.

Her mind recalled the Banshees terrorizing citizens with their bombs, and Sangheli mutilating men in the streets.

"When one human world after another fell… when my Spartans were all that stood between humanity and extinction,"

The civilians pointed with joy at a team of Spartan II's that dropped from a Pelican and began to turn the tide on the battle.

Sangheli roared with anger as they were slaughtered.

"Nobody questioned why they were originally built." She ended her monologue and flashback.

"So you feel in the end that your choices were… justified."

"My work saved the human race." She countered.

"Do you think the Spartans' lack of basic humanity helped?" He asked.

"What are you after? The others before you were Naval Intelligence but you… you're something else." She asked, avoiding the question.

"Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization, furthermore-"

"The records show _efficient_ behavior operating in hazardous situations. I supplied the tools to _maintain_ that efficiency." She interrupted.

For a brief moment she recalled carrying Cortana's Data chip to the lonely Master Chief.

But her mind quickly shifted to another time, refusing to dwell on the fact that he may be right.

Now she thought of an unarmed Spartan annihilating a Brute Chieftain with dead Sangheli littering the ground.

"Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, broken?" the interrogator asked.

"What does John have to do with this?..."

Then it dawned on her.

"… You want to replace him."


	2. The Replacement

-Evan-

I stripped off the last bit of my armour and stuffed it in my locker and slammed it shut.

I was just in the thick black ODST body suit now.

I remembered getting this locker at the beginning of my career in the UNSC.

…

I looked at the military newspaper.

_'12 ODST's dead in drop accident'_

"Sure are a lot of them dying. You ever get nervous about doing this, Evan?" One of the marines asked me.

"Nope." I replied.

…

This was several years ago. Before I was actually an ODST.

If I had been asked that after I had dropped for my first time, my answer would have varied.

I regret saying that now.

It's terrifying, dropping from orbit in a pod at several hundred kilometers per hour.

Evan, please report to the Directors office now.

I went to the office and knocked.

I stood at the door to the office awaiting an answer to my knock.

"Welcome!" the door opened.

A man in his forty's or fifty's with a stocky build greeted me.

We shook hands and he entered the office.

It was not terribly dirty but, it was not as clean as I imagined.

"You can call me the director." He said as I took a seat.

"Yessir."

"You've already filled out the paper work and everything, but we need this one last confirmation."

"If you accept my offer you will be the leader of a team of Super-Spartans known as Y.E.A.R. (Yare Enigmatic Aerial Recon team)" The director said.

"I accept" I replied without hesitation.

"Ok then, head to the medical room and they'll begin your surgeries."

With that I turned to leave.

"Wait!" The Director barked.

"Good luck"

"Thanks" came my reply.

I was lain down on a hospital table, and then strapped in with metal cuffs.

"Well what the heck are these for?" I asked.

"If the surgeries don't turn out right you could become mentally unstable and we don't want you making a mess" was the nurses reply.

"Well that's reassuring."

Four rather large needles were injected into my upper arms and three others into my head.

An odd looking machine started pumping.

Pain throbbed through my whole body as the head surgeon began to make a cut down my stomach.

A piece of machinery was implanted in the cut and another surgeon began stitching.

Something else was happening to my legs and feet but he couldn't see that between the fact that I was in too much pain to think and my eyelids were dropping.

/Rise, Xeven! /

I then awoke but I could not control my body for some reason.

I broke the straps and sent all the surgeons flying, and probably killing them.

Then I smashed through a wall into the armory and quickly equipped the modified EVA [C] armor, meant to fit my new overly muscular body.

I escaped and left a trail of gore and destruction in my wake.

I then hijacked a long sword and flew to an unknown destination.

-A few months later-

-The director-

I walked through the wreckage of Xeven's rampage.

_We screwed up that bad, huh?_

I picked up a wrinkled piece of paper with some basic illustration of the machine implanted in Evan.

The project has finished sir. Twelve Spartan 1/12th Xeven's strength

I had requested these new Spartan IV's to be weaker in case we had another problem. I don't want another 'Mess'.

A Spartan with dark blue Soldier armour walked out of the medical room.

I could tell by the way he walked that he wasn't used to controlling the power of the equivalent of the Spartan II.

"Jack!" I shouted and patted the man on the shoulder.

"You made it! Now get to the briefing room for some serious business." I used a more stern tone in the second sentence.

Jack followed me, at what looked like a slow pace to him because he was now so fast, down to the briefing room.

I opened the door to the briefing room which was pointless because after what happened I could have pushed it down.

It crashed down upon being opened.

Two walls were missing, you could see into the next room and you could look out over the busy streets of Istanbul.

We entered the room full of Spartans.

We were greeted by a large Spartan.

I felt small in his presence.

I could tell even Jack felt it too.

He was at least a foot taller than him, and had bulging armour to fit all of his excess muscle(and not to mention, he could also lose some weight).

He had full white and gold Operator armour except for His helmet witch was a Mark V with a black visor.

I called the room to attention.

"Meet Devin. Code name: December." I pointed to him.

"And Nick, code name: November" I pointed to a tall thin Spartan in Venator Armor.

He had knifes in almost every place you could think to hide one.

"Oliver, your code name is October" He had Red and Orange armour, A EVA [C] helmet with a black visor, a CQC left shoulder pad and a Commando right, Collar/Breacher [R] chest, and FJ/Para knee pads.

"Now don't bother talking to him because he won't talk back. No, he's not mute but he just chooses not to talk."

"Sage, a recruit, but he has shown his worth and is a YEAR agent weather you like it or not. Code Name Septiembre" He had red and blue CQB armour and a blue visor.

"This is August. A robot built by Jarod He had the strength of a YEAR agent." I pointed to the full armored Spartan-sized robot standing on the ceiling. He had black orbital armour and a red visor.

"And Jarod. Code Name: July. He is another recruit and he is insane but you will treat him with full respect. I had my reasons for picking all of you.

"This is Jun. Code name: Jun (if you couldn't figure that out.) He fought on reach."

I then looked over to the woman in the light blue HAZOP armour with a silver visor.

"This is May. Code Name: May. Surprised?"

"This is April. And I bet you could never guess her code name." I said as I pointed over to the girl with Black Mark VII armour and a black visor.

"This is Mr. Magnum. Code name March. He is a former Private Investigator."

"This is Dr. Frank. Code name: February. He is the team's medic." I pointed to the man with the orange Recon armour and silver visor.

"And you," I looked over to Jack.

"January, are the team leader"

They all briefly chatted for a few seconds.

"Now that you all know each other," I quieted the room again.

"As you all know, there was recently an incident with a rouge Spartan. He hijacked one of our ships witch we tracked to an unexplored planet. You will be accompanying and commanding the UNSC Starwing on an expedition to this planet to capture Xeven. ALIVE. Any questions?"

The room had no reaction.

"Very well then. Depart immediately." They left the room, all ducking under the door so not to hit their heads on the ceiling, except for August, who did it to avoid hitting his head on the floor.


	3. Aren't these dead? And extinct?

**A/N: Please review!**

-Septiembre-

We entered the frigate and took off; causing papers and other litter to scatter around.

The ship slowly gained speed and altitude as it flew over the city of Istanbul's streets.

Two escort longswords flew nearby guiding it to avoid hitting any skyscrapers.

We managed successfully to get a few kilometers over the city before the escorts left.

We left the planet after a while of flying.

We were about to enter slipspace, when the whole ship shook terribly as a giant asteroid collided with the hull and the power went out.

We all huddled around January's ring shaped floating electronic lantern.

After a head count and a half he was satisfied that everyone was there.

I heard a loud screeching noise,

"Did you here that?" I asked.

"No…?" Everyone replied and stared at me.

"The screeching noise. Didn't you-"I was interrupted as it sounded gain, louder this time.

"Hear it now?" I said just to prove my point.

January handed me a gold-skinned BR and grabbed a shotgun for himself.

"Come with me, kid. Everyone else stay here!" He ordered.

We approached a closed blast door, but could not open it because of the power.

"December!" January ordered.

We stepped aside to let the massive Spartan through.

He pulled the door up about a meter and we slid under.

The door slammed down behind us.

"We can't go back until the power comes back on." I stated.

"No duh Sherlock." January shot me the 'You're the biggest idiot I've ever seen' look from under his helmet.

We both slowly stood up and activated our night vision.

January raised his shotgun; ready for anything, and I did the same with my BR.

Two marines emerged from the darkness and approached us.

"Status report." January demanded.

One of the marines let out a shrieking noise and they both opened fire on January and I; and we quickly replied with their own shower of led and killed them.

"What the H### was that!" January asked.

"Does it like I know?"

Suddenly the two marines rose back up to their feet, let out another shriek, and attacked again.

But they still got the same results.

We looked at each other.

"Flood" we both said at once.

We began sprinting down the metal corridors to the engine room.

"Hurry!" January shouted and began beating the door down with his gun as soon as we reached it.

I helped him beat it down.

We broke it down in a matter of seconds but had to grab the walls to prevent being sucked into space with all the miscellanies tools.

"Activate magnet boots, soldier."

I heard four clicks verifying our magnet boots.

I looked around and saw flood filling the room and the marines hiding on top of the massive engines.

Before I was done observing the room a Flood infection form attached itself to my armoured face.

January slashed it off with his knife and began emptying clips of his shotgun into different Flood and I did the same with my BR.

Guy's, this is July. I put scanners in your visors before we left and I've scanned the situation. These are Flood, but I don't know how they could have survived. Also you should try shooting that asteroid.

"I liked you guys better when you were all dead!" January shouted as he lobbed a plasma grenade at the asteroid.

It exploded and a Flood monster larger than any I've ever seen sat up.

We tried killing it but we couldn't scratch it.

It was about to crush us when it exploded and covered us in green blood.

All the Flood dropped dead.

New Intel. Somehow that is what is called a 'Flood General' it controls a squadron of flood like a small hive mind and there are several of them throughout the galaxy.

A Covenant Phantom hovered where the Flood General was.

An energy shield shot out of the back and plugged the hole.

An Elite got out to meet us.

"Nice to have covenant support again sir" January greeted them.

"It is an honor to be in your presence" The Elite replied.

"What brings you to the Starwing?" I asked.

"We have ben exiled from the covenant order and would like to help you on your quest."

"What were you discharged for?" January asked politely.

"The Dark Assassin wronged the high council and we were framed. The rumor is that he's working with Xeven and the Prometheans. So you're after Xeven, we thought we could help and collect The Dark Assassin afterword."

"I guess we could use the extra help." January replied.

"Thank you. My Name is Tuka' Brucealee" said the elite

"Well thank you "Tooku… BruceLee…?" said January

"No! Tuka' Brucealee!" the Sanheli said offended.

"Sorry."


	4. 海兵隊はちょ?

-Tuka' Brucealee-

"Entering the atmosphere, sir!" A marine knocked on the door to my room that was just granted to me a few hours ago.

"Do you have to wake me up this early?" My tired voice came through the door of the cabin.

"It's 3:00 pm, sir!" the marines voice responded.

"Can I sleep till… 4:00? And don't call me sir!" I replied.

"Were In atmosphere, sir! We've spotted an unknown sea-craft, sir!" the marine said.

I began to groan, but was interrupted by the ship's sudden shaking and the sound of the attack alarms.

"The sea-craft is firing on us!" A second marine shouted.

I got up and left the room.

January was on his feet shouting orders as he had been all night.

I followed him above decks and to watch the confusion along with the marines.

"Well shoot back you idiots!" January ordered them.

Just then another blast hit the Star Wing; causing several marines to go flying overboard.

When we began firing back most of our rounds missed and the few that didn't did little damage.

"What do you mean they've damaged our targeting system!?" A marine shouted over the com channel.

"Marine squadrons Alpha, Echo, and Omega, can you solve the problem?" January replied trying to stay calm. "

"Sorry, we're dealing with a priority six down in the engine room. "

"D###! You mean we've got boarders?! "

Screams and gunshots were his reply.

-Katherine-

"Sam, my connection is down, do you have your coms up?" I asked.

"Negative, my coms are jammed too, Katherine." Sam replied.

"Alpha is down, and we haven't gotten a reply from Omega squad yet" Aaron, my little brother, added in.

"Makes me feel 'so' much better about the situation" Tom replied sarcastically.

"Sarcasm isn't going to get us anywhere!" Sam broke up the conversation.

"Whatever boarded us took down two squads of highly trained marines, I don't want to make it three" said Aaron.

We ran down the corridor.

"It's too quiet. They could be anywhere" I said nervously.

"Oh quit worry—" Tom began but was cut off as a huge blade went through his chest, tossed him forward and disintegrated him.

"Prometheans!" Aaron shouted as we all fired at it with our MA5D ICWS assault rifles.

It charged fourth unharmed and impaled Sam

Aaron threw his combat knife at its chest, the knife stuck in; but the Promethean knight kept coming.

Aaron and I sprinted back down the hall to escape the oversized alien.

"The weapon lockers are our best cover" I told him as I ran ahead and turned left into the weapon lockers.

We entered; the lockers were deserted.

They had time to reach the second row of lockers before the Promethean entered the room.

"Oh crap, I hope this thing doesn't have Promethean vision" Aaron said terrified.

A yellow light shown through the locker and I knew we had been spotted.

"Stop worrying, it's not gonna have don't promeathen visio-"

It's blade went through the locker and nearly killed us both, luckily Aaron pushed me out of the way and dived.

"Doesn't have Promethean, huh?" Teased Aaron

I had no response but stabbing the Promethean's head with my combat knife.

"It's blind, now take cover behind the side lockers" I ordered.

We each took a locker on opposite sides of the room.

Aaron found a pack on the ground, checked it, and then began messing with it.

The guy really was a MacGyver, for instance one time he found a comb on the ground and used it as a static charge to set off a bomb we planted at the core of a Covenant ship when the remote detonator was damaged beyond repair.

When he seemed satisfied he put it on and silently rolled behind the bling Promethean and next to me.

"What are you doing?!" I asked quietly?

"I have a plan" was his reply

"This pack is full of C4, I rigged it with a pressure sensor, I'm going to try to get stabbed and hopefully it will ignite; and kill it"

"That's a one way trip" I told him.

"I know, this is goodbye"

He got up to run.

"Wait!" I called to him.

"Yes?" he replied.

"You can't do this" I cried.

"Why not?!" He asked

"I promised mom always to protect you." I said.

"Mom's not here now, Katherine" He protested.

"I'm still going to keep my promise, whether mom's still alive or not!" I yelled.

This really stunned him because I never yelled or spoke of mom's death.

"You can't stop me."

Aaron charged the alien; drawing as much attention to himself as possible.

The Promethean stabbed him right in the chest; through the pack; and the explosion killed them both.

The only thing I could do was weep.

-Tuka' Brucealee-

"I'm sorry, did you say 'Prometheans'?"

"Yes sir."

"We've lost com connection to command, but we can still communicate on the ship." July informed everyone.

January made an order to retreat from battle.

"Geeze, can anyone take care of the targeting system?"

"Yessir. "

After running around and messing with computers a while, I was sure the ship could break in half.

I eventually fixed the system.

"THANK YOU! It was H### not being able to shoot strait even for a couple of seconds."

"Have you seen the rest of the Y.E.A.R.?" his stern voice came back."

"We're locked in the crew cabins" a new voice joined the conversation.

It was May's. I could tell she embarrassed.

"Really?!" A confused marine thought aloud.

"11 Y.E.A.R. agents can't open a door?!" He continued and barely was able to keep from laughing.

"It's reinforced with some sort of promethean energy shield." July Explained.

"We need energy swords down here, now!" April ordered.

"My crew will assist you" I assured her.

-Wirnig-

We ran down the halls.

"We need to free the Spartans!" I said as he tripped and nearly stabbed myself with Tuka' Brucealee's energy sword.

"You should be more careful, commander" Said Eltup, not noticing that he had tripped as well.

"As should you, sergeant" chuckled Phiug.

"Stop fighting you four, we've got a mission here!" shouted Linling.

"There are only three of them" Turnliog corrected.

In all the arguing, we ran into the wall.

Eltup and I sliced the generators and opened the doors.

"As they stumbled out of the room they all said: "Wait… A team of grunts saved us?" In their own words.

"We're taking heavy fire! "A marine shouted.

"You mean we're still in firing distance of that ship?!" January asked dumbfounded.

"We're away; but they've sent heavily armed ground forces."

"You mean heavily armed ground –forces are keeping up with our ship at 4/5th of the top speed?!"

"We're not at 4/5th of the top speed; our engines are damaged."

"I'll take care of the engines." January said irritated.

"Wait! Slow us down more. I'm going to try something cute." I said smiling.

We were so close to the ground by now I could make out details in the dirt.

A platform was lowered above the Prometheans.

"Load all the explosives and excess fuel canisters on that platform" I ordered some marines and they set to work.

When the platform was almost loaded a promethean shotgun blast hit one of the riggings holding up the platform.

"No!" I shouted and grabbed the loose cable and held it up.

"Hurry up!"

A blast hit my shoulder; disintegrating my shoulder pad.

I let out the well-known Sanheli roar as I almost fell.

"Done!" A marine shouted to me.

I evaded out of the way of a third blast and the platform fell on the Prometheans; killing most of them and sending the rest running.

"Engines are back online." January spoke again at last.

Not that I wanted to hear him again.

"Bring us back up to speed!" He told them.

"Why are we headed straight to those rocks?" I asked.

"Our steering is down!" A Pilot shouted.

We were too close to those rocks.

"Oh, No"

-Xeven-

I sat in a dark room, only lit by dim torch lights in the below-decks area of the battle ship.

I tried to get up, or yell several times, but I couldn't, nor could I think about it.

"Status report, Shipmaster" I ordered, not at my own will.

"We destroyed the Star Wing, and we did not need the cannon after all.

"How are the Prometheans behaving?" I asked.

The shipmaster smiled under his dark cloak; "good"

"Very well, continue your work" I ordered.

He laughed and turned to leave.


	5. Aftermath

-Wirnig-

Blue blood dripped from my arm.

"Eltup? Anyone?" My voice was faint.

I tried to move away from the sharp piece of metal in my arm, but I couldn't move with a destroyed Phantom on top of me.

It was a miracle I survived.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeelp." I tried.

No doubt I was going to die here.

-Tuka' Brucealee-

"Heeeeeeeeeeeelp." I heard a high pitched, but quiet, Unggoy voice from the wrecked Phantom.

I had given the order to load up before it crashed.

I sliced through the wreckage.

"Anyone alive?"

I sliced some more and Wirnig was free.

He must have jumped at least… 32… 33… 34 feet.

"Don't kill me O' great and powerful doorknob spirit!"

"It's me. Tuka' Brucealee."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Then I noticed the rubble shifting; and a Huragok floated up.

"Ramo' Uggoykee" I said excitedly

He was my team's engineer, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like if he died, even though he was often annoying and had serious gas problems.

"Hey… you didn't let us die here. How many more surprises you got?" He asked.

I ignored him; our usual routine.

-Septembre-

I sat up groggily and examined the wreckage.

July had his head stuck in the ground like an ostrich (as usual) August's legs were running around and he was dragging himself after them (As usual) and the rest of the team was lying around unconscious.

Dead marines littered the ground.

I didn't bother checking them.

Even though I was new with the UNSC, I could easily tell if someone was dead.

"This is Katherine from Echo squad. Is anyone out there?" A marine's voice came over the communicator, but I could hear the faint whisper from behind a boulder.

I peeked around.

A female marine, about average height (Which seemed pretty undersized) sat against the rock in a small puddle with tears dripping down her face.

"Yes."

-Xeven-

I sat alone in the dark, mentally bound in place.

The Shipmaster materialized next to me.

"It appears Jun is going to be an important player in this game." He said.

"Jun? He's done nothing. How could he be important?" I asked.

He smiled under his cloak.

"Trust me."

I didn't really have a choice.

"Very well. Get an elite team of Promethean's ready for assault. I want him alive."

_But, I have no idea why._

-Septembre-

After I had woken everyone up, we had set up a camp in the canyon.

July had produced a bag of smores.

Everyone seemed in a fairly good mood despite the fact that we crashed a multi-million dollar UNSC frigate and thousands of marines died.

Except for Katherine.

She sat on a log staring out into space; still holding her flaming piles of ashes that were once marshmallows over the fire we had erected.

No one knew what was wrong with her; and she didn't want to talk about it.

January stood up on a boulder to make an announcement.

"Headcount time!" he said.

All the conversation died down.

He went off his list of people calling off names until he got to Jun.

"Jun?" He asked.

Everyone started murmuring and looking around.

"He must've been captured by the Prometheans!" February shouted.

"Agreed. But—"

January was cut off by February who was rattling off a list of medical conditions he could have.

After the other Spartans pinned him down, January continued talking.

"We'll head to battleship in the morning. For now get some rest."

February tried to say something like '_He could die'._

But it sounded like '_Fee would pie'._

Eventually, we got to bed.

We slept in makeshift bunk beds in the wreckage of the Starwing.

November was in the bunk above me.

July had set August to Lullaby mode and he was singing the Pokémon them song, but the words were changed to '"Gotta kill 'em all!" for some reason.

"Make him shut up!" May yelled.

"I will," July said.

"I'll put him to sleep mode, then tomorrow I'll put him to kill mode!"

August was pretty cool when July wasn't manipulating him.

"Hey," November said.

"Hey."

"Do you have anything to go back to?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Family… friends… home."

"Yeah. Small farming family. I've got a girlfriend on the Infinity. You?"

He thought a moment.

But before he could answer he fell asleep.

I tried to go to sleep, but it was hard with August singing about strangling Pikachu.


	6. Escape

-Xeven-

The last of the Black Prometheans teleported in on its face.

"The Spartans have called in reinforcements!" He began to explain to the rest of the team.

I still wanted answers about what was happening to me, but I was coming undone.

I had lost almost all the ability to resist, my thoughts were slowing down, and I felt extremely tiered.

The Prometheans huddled around the black one and listened to his story.

The shipmaster was nowhere to be seen.

With all my strength, I refused to join the huddle, walked over to Jun, detached my knife, but I could only drop it a few inches away from Jun.

He reached for the knife.

I blacked out from fatigue.

When I woke up, all the Prometheans were gone and… oh, I was fighting Jun.

I had him pinned down with my hands tight around his neck.

I tried to stop.

I guess I let up enough for him to kick me backwards and escape my grasp.

He had both of our knives.

He looked at me confused.

"Kill… m-me…" I managed.

He charged at me.

Involuntary, I rolled out of the way and put out my leg to trip him.

He fell, but he cartwheeled back up; smashing through a box.

My SMG, his Sniper Rifle, and a lot of Forerunner weapons spilled out.

Under normal circumstances I would have grabbed my SMG, but I grabbed dual Boltshots.

Jun knew better than to use his sniper in this kind of fight, so he grabbed a Light-Rifle.

I began charging the Boltshots.

He swung his Light-rifle at me like a baseball bad and whacked me in the face, distorting my aim, and shooting a nearby fusion coil.

We both went flying in opposite directions.

Jun went over the edge of the boat, and I got hit by a wave of weapons.

I heard a shout.

I looked up the canyon. The YEAR agents were charging the ship.

Jun swung back up, picked up a Boltshot, and ran to me.

He pointed it at my head and began to charge it.

I could've stopped him, but I used the last of my energy to stay down.

I gave up.

There was no0thing left of the real me.

I could only hope that Jun would make the shot in time.

I took a last look at the YEAR agents,

They were frozen, mid run, suspended in time.

I couldn't even question this.

I looked up at Jun.

He was perfectly still, and the shot was not released.

The ship began to move, faster than it should.

The water turned yellow-brown and eventually became sand.

The salty air smell became distant, and the sound of Forerunner weapons charging was replaced by the hum of an automobile engine mixed with the sound of loud helicopter blades.

The boat shrunk and changed shape and I blacked out.


	7. Noble Actual

-Xeven-

I awoke in a moving vehicle; a M12 Passenger Warthog to be exact.

I look around.

I recognize the terrain.

_Is This… Reach? _I wonder.

_Oh, is this a dream?_

_ My mind must be revisiting my escape from reach._

_ I remember it not being all that interesting though._

_ I don't know why my mind would dream me back to here. _

_I last remember fighting Jun aboard my ship._

I look around some more.

In the passenger seat I see a red and orange Spartan III with the EVA [C] helmet, like mine.

_Like mine?_

I take off my helmet, it is an ODST helmet.

_Odd… Oh yeah, I was an ODST when the events of Reach happened._

_No wonder I felt so weak, light, and short._

The Spartan had a Commando right shoulder,

A CQC left shoulder,

A Collar/Breacher [R] chest plate,

FJ/Para knee pads,

And a black visor.

"Hey, Spartan, you got a name?" I asked him.

"Jet. Yours?" he asked.

"Xeve—er… Just call me Evan" I replied.

_I remember this so well. In about ten seconds the Warthog will turn right, and take me to a ship that will leave. Wait… Did the Warthog Just turn __left?_

"Ok, 'Jet' umm… do you know what were here for?" I asked.

"You mean they didn't brief you?" he asked.

"Ummm… I was… Playing my DS?" I lie to him.

"What's a DS?" He asks.

I only shrug.

"We are headed to Noble team's HQ. I am the new Noble Six a replacement for Thom, who died on a previous mission"

_I'd heard stories about Noble Team. _

_Especially Noble Six. _

_How he delivered Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn, Cortana saved The Master Chief from certain death on multiple occasions, and The Master Chief save mankind on multiple occasions._

_ So, really the whole thing is built on Noble Six's sacrifice._

I considered telling him that he and his team would soon die, but since this was my dream the events could turn out different.

I remained silent.

We arrive at the base.

I get out of the Warthog and walk past Jun; sitting in a Falcon and loading his SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle.

/This is your target/ a voice came from nowhere.

No one else seemed to notice so it must be in my head.

And, it sounded just like my assistant; The ShipMaster.

/I will speak to you again tonight/ It finished.

I walk into the base, to see a Blue Armoured Commando in a video chat with someone on his computer.

"Contact with Visegrad Relay was lost last night. All signals flatlined at twenty-six hundred hours." The deep authoritative voice came from the computer.

"I responded with trooper fire teams, which since have been declared MIA." He continued.

"And now you're sending us in." The dark blue armoured Spartan replied.

I could easily identify him as the leader.

He also looked a lot like January.

"The Office of Naval Intelligence believes deployment of a Spartan team is a gross misallocation of valuable resources. I disagree." The man's voice came from the computer again.

I see a man with the same style of armour I have in the future.

_This was Emile, or Noble Four as some call him. This is the guy who inspired my armour designers._

He was sharpening his knife. On his armour.

I begin to walk towards him but I was stopped as an arm moved in my way. The first thing I noticed is that it was robotic, nearly identical to Jet's.

I turned my attention to the Spartan attached to the arm and realized it was Kat, or Noble Two. Noble Teams intelligence specialist. And she could hack into nearly anything.

She turned and looked at the man in blue commando armour.

"Commander?" she asked.

Their leader or 'our' leader I guess I should say turned and looked at me, Kat and Jet, who was just walking in behind me.

Next to the Commander was a Spartan II unlike the rest of team who were all Spartan III's.

Well, excluding me because I am still only an ODST at the time.

He had bulky, gold, Grenadier armour. He carried what was normally a Mounted Machine Gun.

"So that's our new Noble Six, and the ODST support that we requested" Said the bulky Spartan intrigued.

Jet and I took a step forward, as though to show that he was correct.

He was their new Noble Six, and I was apparently the ODST support that they had requested

It wasn't a position that he was thrilled about, but any chance to make a difference in the war was good enough for him.

"Kat, you read his file?" Emile asked.

"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink."

I could tell she was probably lying; the woman's ability to get into any information was so amazing.

The leader seemed uninterested in the conversation, though an exhale that I barely noticed hinted that he too didn't believe Kat. He turned back to the screen.

"Anyone claim responsibility, sir?"

"ONI thinks it might be local Insurrectionists."

I scowled at the idea of Insurrectionists on Reach.

It was a military planet—the people owed all they had to the UNSC.

It would be illogical for them to fight against it.

"Five months ago, they pulled a similar job on Harmony. Hit a relay to take out our eyes and ears, and then stole two freighters from dry-dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too d### important. I want that relay back online, Noble One."

My thoughts were right, the blue armoured commando that seemed to be the leader was Noble One, or Carter if you go by names.

"Sir, consider it done," Carter replied.

"Then I'll see you on the other side. Holland out."

The connection cut and the Spartans started to move. Jorge and Emile stood up while Carter picked up his helmet.

Carter turned around, setting his full attention on Jet and I.

"Lieutenant?" Carter asks Jet.

"Commander, Sir." Jet stood a bit at ease.

There was something intimidating yet friendly about the Commander.

Jorge and Emile started to move toward the door joining up with Kat at the exit.

"I'm Carter, Noble Team's leader."

He was already well aware of this but knew better then to comment.

"That's Kat, Noble Two." He started then paused a moment.

"Emile and Jorge, Four and Five." He finished

"You're riding with me, Noble Six and… I never got your name." he says to me and Jet.

"Evan" I tell him.

"Ok Evan, We start at sunrise and I expect you to be ready"

"Goodnight" Jet says as we all head to our bunks.

The lights go out.

_Hello? Voice? You there? _

I use my thoughts trying to communicate with the voice from earlier.

/I am here/ he replies.

_You wanted to tell me something? _I ask silently

/Yes/

/This isn't a dream/

/Jun is a major threat to you in another dimension/

/I have sent you back in time to when he is still new to combat/

/You need to kill him, to save yourself in the future/

/You need to out-survive the rest of Noble team until you and Jun are the only two left, and then, you will kill him/

/Goodnight, Xeven/


	8. Winter Contingency

I wake to the sound of my alarm clock.

I look out the window and see the darkness.

_Yeah, I had a bit of time before the rest of the team woke up._

I get out the small leather-covered book labeled '_Evan's journal_'

I write an '_X_' in front of the '_Evan_' Forming '_XEvan_'

I notice the 'Evan' part is starting to fade.

I've had this journal for several years but I've never wrote in it.

I open it up and write the date and some personal info in case lost: address, phone number, name, and description of me.

This was about all I knew how to write in English.

I have mastered speaking English but most of all I can write is German.

I start writing on the next page.

_Dang, these pages aren't attached very well, they could get torn out so easily._

_I finish my page and pack it up._

I walk pas Jun's bunk and considered killing him right then and there.

_No. _

_The rest of the team would be there. _

_I could kill them all…_

_No, I'll wait until I have their trust; or until their all dead._

_I don't know… I feel… different._

_I feel like I have a choice, here on Reach._

_Ever since I became the prime candidate for project Y.E.A.R. the surgeries, made me feel like I had to do something._

_I didn't __want__ to kill the surgeons, but I didn't have control._

_Maybe it's the effects of the potions._

_Maybe I was being controlled by another force._

_I don't know._

_I should probably stop thinking about this; it's too confusing and it's probably just a dream._

I look into the mirror.

An ODST; that's what I am now.

I put on my helmet and see the shiny silver visor and freshly painted recruit insignia

The team moved out of the building, Emile, Kat, and Jorge making their way to one Falcon while Carter lead Jet and I went to the other.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled."

I could tell Jet seemed a bit nervous at that comment.

_What could be so bad about it that they would want that position to be vacant? _I wonder.

"Me, I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength. Just one thing. I've seen your file. Even the parts the ONI censors didn't want me to. I'm glad to have your skill set, but we're a team. That lone wolf stuff stays behind, clear?" The commander tells Jet.

_So this guy was a lone wolf? _

"Great, first day on the team and I'm being lectured" Jet says sarcastically.

"Over full strength" Jun corrected.

"Do not underestimate the ODST's"

Carter looked at Jun as if he were insane.

The Falcon's rotors start up.

"Welcome to Reach" Jun says to me and Jet.

_The guy seemed friendly enough. Too bad we had to be enemies._

The Falcon takes off and we're on our way.

After a few hours of flying, I try to start up a conversation.

"Reach sure is a beautiful planet, yeah?" I ask.

Jet nods.

"Listen up, Noble Team."

Our attention snapped to Carter in front of her as he briefed the team.

"We're looking at a downed relay outpost, fifty klicks from Visegrad.

We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, then Kat's going to get it back online."

I noted that he was staring across at the other falcon.

"Just get me under the hood, Commander."

_If there was anyone that could manipulate tech with ease it was Kat._

"Sir, why would Rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?"

Jorge's question was a good one.

Sure Innies might not like the UNSC, but keeping Reach in contact with the rest of the fleet kept them safe from worrying about the Covenant.

It wasn't very logical.

"You get a chance, maybe you can ask them, Jorge" Carter answered.

"Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ"

Kat fiddled with a datapad in her hand.

Carter turned to look in her direction.

"Back up Channels?" He asked

"Searching" She replied

There was a pause before Kat continued.

"Nada. Can't say what's jamming us"

Her arms went a bit limp, helpless to do much of anything about it.

"You heard her" Carter commanded

"Dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip" He finishes.

"I'm lonely already" Emile says sarcastically.

Eventually, we land.

"Shoot down attempts are likely, so keep your distance" Carter warned the pilot.

"Yes, sir" He replied"

"Jun, I want your eyes in the sky" Carter ordered.

"Yessir!" He replied also.

"Let's go, Six" He orders as we star down the hill.

Why did we land on top of the hill if we were just going to walk down to the bottom of it?

"There's the communications outpost" Jorge's words bring our attention to the sky where she saw the large outline of the satellite dish that indicated our destination.

We walk down the hill to what appears to be a flaming Warthog.

"Reading a distress beacon," Kat alerts us.

"Could be the missing troopers. Let's check it out" Says Carter.

"Structure Point 3-4, looks clear from this angle" Emile leapt down from the large rock, easily landing on his feet.

"Distress beacon is coming from just south of here, Commander. We're close" Kat took the lead ahead of Carter as they approach the pile of wreckage.

"Found the beacon" Emile picks up the brightly-colored item and tosses it over his shoulder.

Kat caught it.

"Make out any ID?" he said as she examined it.

"Negative, but it's military" She dropped the beacon to the ground.

"So where are the troopers?" Jorge asked

"And why are we not seeing explosive residue?" Kat asks.

"Noble Three, can you confirm any 'ex residue in the area?" Carter asked Jun.

"Hmm… negative, sir."

"Plasma, maybe?" Emile asks.

"Can't be. Not on Reach" Jet says and I nod.

"There's a lot of blood on the ground." Emile was staring at the concrete, studying the red splatters.

"All right, Noble, looks like there's nothing here. Let's move on" Carter tells us all.

"Smoke, at the next structure, Boss!" Kat says.

., or whatever the teams A.I.'s name is, marks the location on our HUD's.

"Circle west and check it out. Noble Team: you have permission to engage, but be selective. We don't need to telegraph our presence" Carter orders.

"Circle west and check it out. Noble Team: you have permission to engage, but be selective. We don't need to telegraph our presence" He keeps ordering.

"Noble Leader, I'm seeing heat-sigs in the structure ahead" Jun's warning came just as Jorge moved toward them from where his falcon had dropped him and a door slid open.

We enter the building.

I hear a man crying ahead.

"Move in carefully" I say as I move ahead.

_My turn to give orders._

We approach a truly depressed man, kneeling at a pile of splinters.

"My-m" He starts.

"MY CABBAGES!" He began crying even harder.

Jet couldn't help but laugh over com.

Jorge set down his weapon and walked up to him.

"MY CABBA-"

"Yes, I'm sorry about your cabbages, but happened here?" Jorge asks

"The—The Covenant!"

"The Covenant are on Reach and destroyed my cabbages!"

"Oh, and they also killed my son"

"Commander, be advised. I'm reading heat signatures in the structure directly east from our position. Over" Jun's voice sounded a bit hurried.

_This can't be happening._

"Noble team, double time it." Carter started to sprint forward.

We all followed.

We reached the structure in a few seconds.

"Fill me in, Commander, what are you seeing? Over." It was obvious that Jun was frustrated he couldn't see inside of the building.

"We've got military casualties, two of the missing troopers. Looks like they were interrogated… It's messy" Carter reported.

"Movement. Watch your motion trackers." Carter's words brought my attention to my tracker.

"Jun, you see anything?" Carter asked.

"Negative. Thermal's clean" He replied

_I'm going to test if this is a dream or not._

"Covenant, behind this building" I shout.

"How can you tell?" Kat asks.

"Follow me!" I order knowing I've pissed off Carter. Again.

I run into a building and walk up the stairs.

I see two Frag Grenades, just sitting there.

I pick them up.

I walk around the wall and down the next set of stairs.

_D######. I was right._

A squad of skirmishers. Waiting for us.

I pop a Frag down there.

We head down.

"Banshees! Heads up, Charlie One!" A pilot shouts over com.

Just then an area near the building explodes.

Several Skirmishers go flying in random directions and some are disintegrated completely.

The rest of Noble Team runs down and opens fire on the many Covenant outside.

I toss out another Frag but miss terribly.

I peek out and fire a few rounds with my Magnum.

I don't think I'm much help.

Suddenly a Needle hits me near the chest and drains my shields.

I duck back behind the wall and let them recharge.

I notice Jet nearby.

He seems to be more help than me but he still isn't as good as the others.

Yet.

A Plasma grenade fly's in and the team armor locks.

_Why don't Jet and I get armor lock?_

The firing continues.

I see the blue glow of a plasma grenade.

An explosion occurs on the other side of the wall and ruble falls on our heads.

_This wall won't hold._

Suddenly; the firing stops.

The team walks out as the smoke clears.

I still stay in and only peek out.

"It's okay Evan, you can come out" Jorge assures me.

I slowly follow Jet out.

The team moves down the field and start firing again.

Emile, Jet, and I take cover behind a fence.

Emile occasionally pokes his head out and fires his shot gun.

Jet clips his Assault to his back and un-holsters his Magnum.

I do the opposite.

Jet runs out and fires his pistol six times hitting grunts square in the head with each shot.

I follow and take out the remainders with my Assault Rifle.

We take cover behind a wooden pillar holding up a thin steel roof for the bridge.

I wait for my shields to recharge and then make sure Jet's are.

Jorge and Carter take out the Covenant on the bridge.

"Noble Leader, enemy dropships inbound!" Jun alerts us.

Emile runs out from behind his cover.

"Falcon moving to assist" The pilot from before says.

"Stand down, Noble, stand down. Contacts neutralized" Carter orders.

"There's more" I say.

Carter looks at me weird.

/Stop drawing attention to yourself/

"Follow me" I order.

Carter looks at me as if to say: "Shut up. And let me do my job"

_Mission accomplished._

_Who to piss off next?_

/Quit it/

/You don't want to blow this/

_You know, I still think this is a dream._

I look around to see everyone staring at me.

I need to keep these conversations on-the-go.

We run down the valley shooting grunts and Jackals as we pass.

Noble Team gets caught up in a fight with a squad of high ranking Sanheli.

Jet and I run past and get in a civilian truck.

We drive back up and run over the Elites.

Jorge gets on the back and mounts his chain-gun on the top.

Emile, Kat, and Carter get in the second truck.

We speed down to a structure of some sort splattering Jackals, Grunts, and Skirmishers as we go.

I pull hard to the left and go around the structure.

However we come across a second one and after a while of driving the truck in circles we decide it's time to go on foot.

A Covalent dropship fly's in and hovers around the area the Team has met up in.

After a while of shooting, taking cover, sprinting, and punching; we get through and the dropship leaves.

We pick up another distress beacon from the missing trooper squad.

"Solid copy, Commander. Recalling Falcon Charlie 2. Hold that evac position" Carter orders them.

We get back in the trucks and head back up the other building.

Another dropship there.

_Perfect._

An Elite runs up to me and kicks me down on my back.

Jet shoots him square in the face with a plasma pistol shot; draining hi shields.

I get back up and punch him down.

Jet quickly finishes the job with his assault rifle.

Suddenly; a temporarily deafening blast goes off right next to me and another dead Sanheli goes flying.

After my vision clears and I can hear again; I shout:

"Watch where you throw those things!"

"Sorry" Emile's voice comes back.

Another Elite runs up to me from behind.

I shove a Plasma Grenade in its armour and watch it explode in my face.

I draw my Magnum and finish the job.

Jet, Emile, and I regroup with the marines and the rest of the team.

"Affirmative. Transport inbound." The two falcons landed and the team piled up into them.

"What?!" I ask.

"That's right" Says Carter.

"Were flying you the rest of the way"

The Falcons take off.

We fly a short distance and land in a big courtyard.

Emile and Kat already seem to be on top of things.

"LZ's a little hot, sir" The pilot was definitely scared.

"Put her down, pilot. Six, break's over" Carter orders.

We hop out and try to make a difference.

_There's so many of them._

We take care of most of them and are ordered to retreat back to the room where Kat had finally hacked something.

I look at Jet and say:

"I don't like to leave a job half finished"

Jet nods and we split up.

I walk through a catwalk and knife Jackal after Jackal.

I see Jet taking care of Grunts on top of crates and other places most people wouldn't check for Covenant.

"Six, what the h### are you doing six!?" Carter yells.

"My bad sir" I reply

_Yep. He's pissed._

I mute Carter on the com as we finish the last of the Covenant and retreat to the door..

It closes behind us.

We all click on our night vision and start down the corridor.

We come across a dead human body; siting in a pile of blood.

"Evan, Six! Search that body" Carter orders.

I walk over to the body and search it.

Kat instantly began working on the computer.

"Plasma damage" she says as she shrugs.

I find a data-pad and toss it to Kat.

"Found something" I say as I toss it.

"I'll take that" She says as she catches and examines it.

"Not your domain" she tells me.

"I've got a live one over here" Jorge says as we all turn to see.

He was pulling a young woman out of the shadows.

"Come on, out you come" he said as she struggled and tried to hit his armour and brake free.

_Stupid civilians._

"It's all right, we're not going to hurt you" Jorge assured her as she shouted in a native language.

"Jorge" Carter's tone was warning.

"I've got her" He said as he set down his machine gun and grabbed both of her arms.

"Keep still, and I'll release you" He told her.

She held still for a second.

Before Jorge could release her; 4 Sangheli drop down.

One of them kicks me to the ground while another grabs the girl.

I hear gunshots as I roll over to a Sangheli jumping on me and threatening me with an energy sword.

I punch him in the face and Jorge kicks him off and he runs away yelping.

Kat kicks an assault rifle over too me and I stand up.

Jorge, Jet, and I start towards the Sangheli warriors as they run off with her as a hostage.

"Evan, Five, and Six, you know what to do" Carter orders.

We walk down the dark corridor as Jorge closes the heavy door behind us.

"Activate you r night vision" I tell them and we all do.

We empty our ammo into some Jackals and get behind cover as some Sangheli and Unggoy come out from behind the corner.

I notice an open crate with some D.M.R.s spilling out of it.

I point it out to Jet while Jorge stays out in the open and fights.

We grab them and follow Jorge, killing a few Grunts and Sangheli Minors on the way.

_The real challenge is just around the corner._

We walk around the corner.

We see the Covie's and Jorge Stands and shoots, I dive into the lower floor, and Jet takes the ramp and Runs behind cover.

_Big mistake Jet. Big mistake._

I run past some needler fire and grab the shotgun and Drop Shield off a dead marine and run for Jet, dropping the shield just in time to save him from getting stabbed, and then I blow the Sangheli's face in with the shotgun.

I toss the shotgun to Jet and pick up the Energy sword and finish off the Sangheli with Jet's help.

I activate some button thing that DOT marked on my HUD as Jorge calms the civilian.

-Later-

Kat unscrewed the access panel and forcefully pulled it from its place.

"How long?" Carter was leaning to the side, trying to look inside.

Kat reached into the wires and pulled out several parts of it.

"Question of my life. If the question is when will this station be back online," she looked back at Carter. "Two weeks, earliest. This is plasma damage. All major uplink components are fried"

Carter leaned in closer. "Two minutes is too long"

"Which is why I'm splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland"

"Nerd…" I whisper to Emile.

"I heard that" Kat says offended.

"Find out what she knows" Carter ordered Jorge and points to the civilian.

Jorge moved over to the girl and knelt down.

His hand touched her shoulder and she shrugged it off.

Emile chuckled to himself.

Jorge said something in the native tongue and took off his helmet.

Emile turned to Six. "Big man forgets what he is sometimes"

Jorge moved up beside Emile and feinted as though he were about to strike him.

"She just lost her father. She needs a full psychiatric workup''

"She's not the only one," Emile snapped.

Jorge turned to argue back but Carter stopped them. "Lock it down, both of you! Get her on her feet…the body stays here"

"Thank you, sir" Jorge turned and passed Emile, shooting him a glare.

I got the feeling this wasn't a fight that was new to them.

Jorge moved over to the woman and helped her to her feet.

"Signal. It's patchy, but it's there" Kat stood up and Noble Team started to leave.

Jun took the lead with Jorge and the woman behind him, Emile following close behind the pair.

"I'll take it." Carter reached up, removing his helmet.

Kat shifted her weight onto her right leg, leaning a bit toward Carter. "Best not touch anything. You wouldn't want to ground this place"

"I'm barely getting you. What's your situation?" The voice of the Colonel filtered through the radio.

Even as I walked away I could hear them.

"Colonel, this is Noble One. There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?" Carter's voice enforced how serious the situation was.

"Come Again, Noble One? Did you say Covenant?" The officer sounded surprised.

"Affirmative, sir"


	9. Christmas Special

**A/N: Ok, sorry. I meant to upload this on Christmas day, and I had it written a few days before, but I just kept forgetting. Merry late Christmas!**

I run out of WalMart as fast as I can.

_You stupid old ladies. Now I'm late for the Christmas party._

I get in my car and take off 30 miles over the speed limit.

_A traffic jam!?_

I hit a button on the dashboard and two rocket launchers pop out of the side doors.

"Mwahahahahahahaha!" I maniacally laugh as I begin firing rapid-fire missiles at the traffic jam ahead.

I drive through the wreckage at 117 Miles Per Hour.

_Road Construction!?_

I steer my car off the road, crashing through the wall of a building.

I drive/crash through the huge sea of desks; running over civilians and sending them flying unharmed.

_Physics must not apply in Christmas specials._

I drive into the elevator; roll down my window and press the 'roof' button.

The elevator goes up and stops to let in a teenager who says his name is 'Jag M7'.

_I think he has something wrong with him…_

He gets off a few floors later.

_Finally. The roof._

I drive off at a high speed and do an overly unrealistic huge slow-motion Hollywood action movie style jump over the road construction.

I continue driving.

I hear the sound of Police sirens behind me.

I drive into a skate-park.

I drive up a ramp and do a flip and land on my wheels; leaving the cops in a flaming heap behind me.

But a teenager named JetH7 skateboarded in front of me (He had been daydreaming about eating a giant Big-Mac and had rolled all the way down from his house on top of a mountain and he didn't even notice where he was)

I ran into him sending him flying back up to his mountain home, and he STILL didn't notice!

Oh well, he'll feel it in a bit.

I drive past some Christmas carolers.

"'Tis the season to be trolling; Trollololol, lololol!" They sing

I finally arrive at the building with a huge sign that says: HALO Themed Christmas Party.

I pull up and get out of my car.

I walk up to the door and knock.

A Spartan with a gold visor and blue Mark V armour answers the door.

"Hello? Who are you? Are you a freelancer?" He asks me.

"Uhhhhhh…. No" I tell him unsurely.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm Caboose" He says.

"And this is my best friend, Church" He says as a Christmas present flew up behind him.

"Caboose, get this d### box off of me" It says to him in a deep robotic voice.

"Aww… I just know Tucker will like this…" He replies.

"Okaaaaaaaay….. Uh… I've got the wrong HALO Themed Christmas Party. Got to go!" I run off to the other HALO Themed Christmas Party across the street.

I knock on the door.

R2D2 (From Star Wars) opens the door. (Don't ask me what he's doing in a HALO FanFiction)

I walk in.

"Xeven! Good to see you'' March welcomes me.

"Thanks" I say.

"And I bought you a Christmas present…. YOUR DOOM!" I shout.

I threw a box at him.

All of his little kid impulses forced him to open the box.

A computer was inside with his Facebook page opened.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He shouted.

"And I hacked your account and posted… The picture!" I torment him.

"NOT THE PICTURE!" he yells.

'The picture' was a picture that The Shipmaster had taken when March had tried to get a bunch of tuff guys to try to beat up December by putting a Bikini on over his armour and pretending to be a girl. It didn't go so well.

March began melting.

"There's only two ways to defeat him now!" Jun shouted.

"How is that?" January asked.

Jun had a dramatic pause for effect.

The camera zoomed in on his helmet.

"My. Little. Pony!" He replied.

"My little pony! My little pony! Friendship is Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaagic!" R2D2 rolled up with a TV mounted on him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I exploded. Literally.

I awoke in my bunk next to the rest of Noble team.

"Thank goodness that was just a dream. I hate My Little Pony"

I went back to sleep knowing I would start the ONI Sword Base mission in a few hours.


	10. ONI Sword Base

**A/N: Thank you to those who are reading this. The story has roughly 600 views, and about 400 of the viewers did not read past the first chapter. And do you mind leaving a review? I wrote this to see if people like my writing, so please tell me if you like it. And if you don't, at least try to tell me ****why**** it's bad. **

**Another A/N: Another big thanks to JetH 7 for coming up with Jet, Special thanks to natergater for coming up with Hawkwolf, and thanks to another friend who doesn't have a FanFiction account for being firefight GI.**

**Claimer: I own HALO! No JK, I just don't see why people make such a big deal about how they don't own the rights in a ****FanFiction.**

I awake in a moving falcon.

"Hey, sleepyhead!" Jet says as I slowly, very slowly, wake up.

I look around to see, Jet, Kat, and another Spartan are accompanying me.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"We had to get an early start today. ONI Sword Base is under attack by covies" Kat tells me.

"You were sure tossing and turning a lot" Jet says laughing a bit.

"I… just had a weird dream"

"Hi, I'm Hawkwolf. Long-rang specialist."

I shook his hand.

He had Black EOD armour, and a default visor.

"We're just about there" Kat tells us as the falcon moves over a large courtyard.

I look out and realize that a massive plasma cannon had been constructed.

"Look out!" I yell as a huge plasma bolt hit the helicopter.

We spiraled out of control and a steady stream of smoke was coming from one of the rotors.

Hawkwolf pulled out his sniper rifle, quickly aimed, and shot.

_He can't have hit anything._

The cannon stopped moving.

_That's not possible…_

The falcon crashes to the ground.

"You didn't hit that… did you?" I ask.

"Yup" He replies.

_That's just scary._

"Spartans, push back the attack on Sword Base" A voice comes over com as Jet, Kat, and I grab D. .

Hawkwolf keeps his sniper rifle as a primary, and an old school magnum for his secondary.

"We need to get to that plasma cannon" He orders.

_If only Carter were around…_

"Kat, stay here, Hawkwolf, keep us cover. Jet and I are going for the target locator. After we clear the courtyard, we'll use the abandoned plasma cannon against the Wraiths" I instruct.

"Sounds like a plan"

I run ahead and Jet follows.

Our shields are lowered by a Sangheli but we make it past.

We sprint along a ledge and avoid a firefight with a lot of Covenant.

We reach a garage or hanger thing with a large door and hide behind a pillar.

"You ok?"

"Yeah"

I run crouched behind some concrete barriers and reach a crate.

I pull out a target locator and retreat back to the pillar.

I point it at the location with the most Covenant and begin holding down the button, marking the location on some above bombers radar.

"Three… Two…"

The guy on the radio confirms the targets and…

The explosion was awesome.

The second biggest real explosion I've ever seen.

_Or maybe the third…_

I watch the circle on the screen of the Target Locator refill, and I repeat.

After some radio fuzz, an ONI Officer comes over the com.

"Dude, ONI like kills your service record when you use their target locators on things other than tanks" He said.

"Sorry, I had other plans for those" I apologize.

"I'll try to talk to the big boss but…" He replied sounding a bit unsure.

"Who is this anyways?" I ask.

"You can call me firefight GI. Got it memorized?" He replies.

"Ok, gate control, can you uhh… open the gate?" Hawkwolf said.

"Is it the green button or the purple button?" A voice asked over com.

"Oh no…" I say.

"Is that Caboose? Again?" Jet asked.

"Yeah… um, sorry. The regular gate guy is in the bathroom right now so…" Caboose replied.

"Caboose, get off the line" another voice came.

"Sorry Tucker!'' Caboose replied.

"It's this button right here" Tucker explained to Caboose.

"Ok, Spartans here ya go." He said as we heard a clicking sound.

The target locater dude came back.

"Are you sure you want to bomb yourself?" He asked.

"Oops! Sorry… wrong button" He said as we heard another clicking sound and the gate opens.

We walk through to the plasma-cannon.

"I'm still in disbelief that you hit the driver in a falling falcon" I tell Hawkwolf.

"Well, it's just because you can't snipe. When you-"

"Whatever" I interrupt.

Ok, who here has vehicle experience?" Jet asks.

"I am a trained vehicle specialist" I reply.

"No you're not!" firefight GI shouts.

"I splattered you at least 75 times in the War Games simulator" I argue.

"But I've never even been in the War Games simulator" He tells me.

_Oh crap I forgot I'm in the past._

"Uhh… You will in the future" I reply and get a lot of odd looks.

"Never mind. I'm good with vehicles and I forgot to put it on my service record"

"Okay." He agrees.

We circle around and go up the ramp into the AA gun.

"Uhhhm…"

I moved around some holographic circles until I find what I think is the fire button.

A huge bolt of plasma shot out and downs the shields of a phantom.

"Evan and Hawkwolf, stay there and man the cannon. Jet and Kat move up to the outpost and get the missiles back online" Carter's voice came through the coms.

Jet began walking towards the ramp, but had to speed up and jump over the edge because the phantom was firing on us.

Hawkwolf tried to snipe the turret gunner out.

I think I've figured this out.

I begin to twist one of the holographic buttons as the cannon cools down.

I watch Hawkwolf make an attempt to destroy the Phantom, and Jet and Kat rescind a few Wraiths on their war to the AA gun.

The unscratched Phantom burst into flames as the AA gun unleashes all their firepower on it and it crashes into the Plasma Cannon and knocks me unconscious.

_What was I doing, anyway? I never wanted to harm anything… it just… I don't know…_

/Since I have complete control, the truth may as well come out./ The voice came once again.

/I put this scar on your life, I made you kill them/

_How?_

/I am of a race known as the Masutātorikkusuta/

_Yeah… and?_

/We are also called 'Puppet-Masters'/

/I, was ruined because of you. /

_How?_

/I was to bring the strongest specimen in the galaxy for study, so I went and infiltrated the Covenant, and stole their bio-weapon/

/When you became stronger, the council was enraged that I had not foreseen it/

_Foreseen it?_

/Time, does not restrain us as it does humans/

_So… this. It's all real._

/Yes, Xeven. This is quite real/

_But… how did I time travel?_

/ While time does not affect us, we have no physical form, and cannot change the events of the past without help. /

_So you possessed me—errr Xeven and when danger was in m—our face, you sent me back in time to stop the threat?_

/Yes. I have been trying to explain that the last few days/

_But... How is any of this even possible?_

/Masutātorikkusuta have no physical form were just—a cloud of energy if you may, and possessing life is our purpose. We get energy that way. /

_I'm beyond confused now. What the heck are you talking about?! This isn't even possible!_

/It is very possible, we have lived thousands of years underground, moving our city to prevent discovery/

_But—you need to eat life to—_

/Anything works. A rock, a dinosaur fossil, a Paper towel, you name it. /

I was trying to picture that now, getting killed by a paper towel.

Strangled, maybe?

/Our time is short. I caused that explosion and knocked you out as a cover, I don't want you blowing this by standing her like an idiot while we talk. You will wake up soon. Do not forget your purpose—Kill Noble team. /

_But I—_

I then woke up.

Dirt came in through my cracked visor.

I was ok, I think. But I refused to move.

_I can't kill them. _I thought.

Then it dawned on me.

_I killed everyone. This whole war over time, and me. It's all my fault._

_I was too greedy to get power, I let myself fall._

_And them—Noble, Year, the surgeons, and everyone I've killed._

_Why couldn't it be me, that was killed?_

_This is greater torture than death, havening to kill the innocent._

_This is my consequence for being so foolish I guess._

I began to stir.

"Hawkwolf?" I shouted out.

"Jag?"

"It's Evan."

"Oh sorry. You sound like an old friend of mine."

I got up to find my knees were still weak and I fell back down to the loose dirt.

"You OK?"

"I'm fine" I replied.

_If you don't consider the fact that I'm now killing innocents against my will, that is._

I sat up and took off my helmet.

"Can't see out of the d### thing." I said as I punched the most of my cracked visor and sending black shards everywhere.

"Cracked visor?" Hawkwolf asked.

"Yeah." I replied. He had an E.O.D. helmet so his small silver-blue visor was hard to hit or crack.

I scraped out the rest of my visor and put my visorless ODST helmet back on.

I slid down the clear undervisor the ODST's had.

"Noble team and Hawkwolf head back to Sword Base. We need you to finish off the covies there and we can head home.

_Home… That's not in this time._

What is my home now, anyways.

I thought of my childhood home, back on Earth. I remembered Mom and Dad, but I don't remember much of them because I only knew them for a few years.

"You Ok?" Hawkwolf asked again.

"It's nothing."

"Do you have an Err… Home if you know what I mean?" I asked him.

"Well… I'm a… a… I just don't really want to talk about that."

"Ok. So you're not part of Noble?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"No. I'm not part of a fire team yet. However I did sign up for a program called YEAR. It's supposed to be the next generation of Spartans. They haven't clarified if I'm in or not, but I've got my hopes up."

_I don't think he's a YEAR agent…_

Not knowing how to reply, I tried to contact Jet and Kat.

"You guys there yet?" I ask.

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"Coming."

Hawkwolf and I sprinted back to Sword base, blowing up all the enemies in our path.

We met up with Jet and Kat behind a barrier.

"Where have you been?" Kat asked.

"We had some problems with a close up Phantom that you shot down. A.K.A you blew up our cannon and knocked us unconscious." Hawkwolf explained.

"Sorry." Jet shrugged.

We met up with Jorge inside the base, and finished off everything as we headed to the top of the base as we watched the orbital defense take down a Corvette.

We then were sent to the science wing for something I'm not sure of.

"Would it kill you to provide a little bit more detail, Firefight GI? Is that even your real name?" I asked.

"Yes to the first, no to the second" He replied.

"You'll find out in a bit."

Carter stood only inches away from a blue-tinted wall of solid blast-proof glass.

An elderly lady—Catherine Halsey, the future War Criminal, stood behind the glass.

Her rather agitated voice echoed through the room, likely being transmitted by a radio so that they could hear the woman standing on the other side of the glass.

"I requested your assistance, Commander and do not need a report on events that occur on my own doorstep."

"What I do require is a detailed account of your previous engagement—"

She then glanced past Carter and saw that Jorge had entered the room with us.

"Jorge, it's been too long."

Jorge removed his helmet and nodded to the woman. "Ma'am."

"What have you done with my armor?" Halsey sounded annoyed by the idea of Jorge's upgrades to his suit.

"Just some…additions I've made."

I could almost swear that he sounded like a child trying to justify the reason why he's painted flames on the side of his new red wagon.

It was odd to hear a seven-foot-tall killing machine sound like a child at all, let alone one that had to justify himself.

"Indeed." Halsey seemed to brush it off, turning her attention back to Carter.

"Visegrad Relay. Its data center was home to one of my xeno-archaeologists, Professor Laszlo Sorvad. Perhaps you could shed some light on his death."

"If he was a civilian male in his mid-sixties, he died with a Covenant energy sword to his abdomen." Carter explained.

"Elites then." Halsey seemed intrigued, like they'd finally gotten her attention.

"They engaged us as well. It was just, uh, just after we found your scientist's daughter, ma'am." Jorge seemed nervous as he spoke, and hesitant to speak again of the girl they'd found.

"She was hiding in the—"

Halsey cut Jorge off and the Spartan seemed surprised. "Irrelevant."

"The elites, tell me more about them."

"Three, zealot class. One got by us. The leader, from the looks of him." Jorge stated.

"Zealot? You're certain?" She asked.

"Their armor configuration matched," Jorge answered.

"Shield strength, too." Jet added, trying to be less-useless at the moment.

I didn't mind being useless for a while though.

"I gave the order not to pursue. Our primary objective was to get the station's relay back online." Carter tried to be in control of the situation again.

"Your primary objective? Commander are you a puppet or a Spartan?"

None of them seemed pleased to hear a civilian taking a tone like that with their leader.

I enjoyed watching Carter offended though.

"Ma'am?" Carter asked.

He was ignored.

"There are those at ONI, myself included, who believe the Covenant dispatch elite advance teams to hunt down artifacts of value to their religion. Survivor accounts suggest such teams are small, nimble, and almost always zealot-class. No doubt they came to the station for the abundance of ONI excavation data sorted there. And you let them get away." She tormented.

By now I was starting to feel sorry for him.

"Data retrieval was not a command directive. Even had we known, we had other, more urgent matters to attend to." Cater defended himself.

"Like warning the planet," Kat muttered.

"Professor Sorvad's final entry in the field notes made reference to 'a latchkey discovery. Latchkey…not a word he would use lightly. So let's hope the data module your Lieutenant Commander stole contains it." Halsey moved on.

"Kat?" Carter turned to her but his tone let on that he was used to this kind of thing happening.

"Before you ask, I was alerted the moment you attempted to access its contents, as I am with any unauthorized tap."

Halsey slid the container forward through the glass. Kat moved forward and dropped the data module in the container.

"That data is classified Tier One. I could send you to the brig for interfering with my work."

Whether out of loyalty, agitation, or just not liking his soldiers being threatened, Carter stepped forward, his voice starting out stern.

"Maybe you'd like to join her." He threatened.

"I'm sorry?" Doctor Halsey sounded surprised that anyone would dare threaten her.

"We're currently under emergency planetary directive, WINTER CONTINGENCY. I'm sure you're familiar with the punishment for civilian interference with a Spartan deployment." He continued to counter.

"Are you threatening me, Commander?"

"Just making a reading suggestion, ma'am."

Carter turned and started to walk out of the room, Kat falling into line behind him.

"Let's move, Noble Team." Carter and Kat moved out before Jun and Emile fell into line behind them.

Jorge hesitated for a moment. "Ma'am."

Halsey wasn't paying full attention.

She was examining the module for any damage or problems.

"That…will be all, Jorge." Her voice was distant, as though she wasn't really putting any thoughts into the words.

I turned and moved out of the room, Jorge following behind me.

We went back to our base and went to bed.

I couldn't sleep; I needed to tell someone about my problem.

Jet. He's a good Spartan as any, and probably the one I trust most though I hardly know him.

"Jet? You awake?" I ask.

"Yeah." His tiered voice came out of the darkness.

"I've got a bit of a… problem."

"You've come to the right place. Who is she?" He replied.

My armoured palm made a bruise on my face.

"Not like that…"

Explained everything to him.

He didn't take me seriously at first, but then again, neither would I.

Before he could reply, the Dark Assassin's voice came back.

/YOU FOOL!/

/I'm beginning the extraction now!/

I could feel some of my internal organs evaporate as they turned into shadows and floated out of my body. Some blood must have dripped down onto Jet's bunk because as I blacked out I could here him call "MEDIC!"


	11. Tip of the Spear

**A/N: I skipped Nightfall because I never really liked that mission and it happened while Evan was out.**

"What did you do to me?"

/The extraction has begun. /

"And that means?"

/I am extracting you from this time. This needs to be done in order for Xeven to return in the present. /

/You are a fool. You should never have told Jet about what happened. /

/You will both pay dearly for this. /

"Why don't I just get sucked back into the present now if I'm needed so bad?"

/Your mission is not complete yet. /

/And this, /

I suddenly felt like I was being stabbed.

/Is to remind you that I am in control! /

Pain completely overcame my body and I let out a scream.

"Go ahead! Kill me! I won't have to kill innocents anymore!"

/Oh really? / The Dark Assassin teased.

/I will let you know this: You being dead doesn't stop me from controlling your body and civil war will spread across the galaxy when your precious 'YEAR Agents' fail. So don't stop your heart all by yourself unless you want to spend eternity hating yourself for killing even more innocents. /

"How could you start a Civil War?"

He did not answer, but laughed.

The laughter filled my head as I regained consciousness.

I awoke on a hospital bed.

_There's no way out of this…_

It appears that Noble Team's discovery last night was not an anomaly. Large Covenant deployments have occurred undetected, and we are now under attack across the Viery territory, including orbital defenses. As per the Winter Contingency, we are countering on every front. Noble's reconnaissance has also identified sophisticated Covenant army hiding canopies, and has been pinpointed what's believed to be a landing zone for additional Covenant forces, the origin of which is yet to be determined. DOT's calm voice came out of my helmet that lay next to my bed.

The doctor walked in.

"Sounds like you better get going."

"How long was I out?"

"A few days."

"So I'm good to go?"

"Yeah, just try not to do whatever you did last night though. Were still trying to figure out what happened to you."

"Your body is also emitting a weird Dark Energy. We're still studying it, but we think it could be used to power things."

Then I noticed my helmet had a visor.

I picked it up and examined it.

"Since you were working with Noble team, we installed a Spartan visor on there. It will fit your new field of work well."

I tried it on and noticed something extra.

"What's that?

"An alternate visor. Try clicking the undervisor control button."

I pressed the button on the side of my helmet that usually controlled my visor.

A different visor popped up.

"Very similar to night vision." I commented.

"Yes, but try staring at a highlighted object for a few seconds."

I stared at one of the Doctors tools, and to my surprise, my visor filled up with data on the tool.

"Wow…"

"We call it the scan visor. It's a smaller version of the scans that ONI use to quickly identify things on the field."

"Thanks"

I suited up and checked out of the hospital.

There was a Falcon waiting for me outside with Jorge in a back seat.

I got a lot of weird looks from civilians.

When I got in I was informed that the rest of Noble was already on the field.

After a few hours of flying we were thrown into an air battle.

Apparently Nobles first objective was to take out the AA guns.

That would be nice.

I felt like firefight GI, having a bird's eye view of the battle and telling Noble information.

I played around with my scan visor a bit.

When Noble took out the two AA guns we landed and picked them up.

"Need a lift Spartans?"

Jet and Hawkwolf manned the Grenade-Launcher Turrets, and caused a massive dent on the Covenant forces.

Hawkwolf seems like a part of Noble now, always working with Jet and I, using the team's AI, DOT.

"Stay sharp, Six, we're not out of the canyon yet." The pilot stated. I could see Jet seemed bothered, after all the a##-kicking he'd done, he still was thought to be not paying attention.

"There's the spire."

I would ask 'What Spire?' because I was never informed, but I've studied Reach history so I knew what they were talking about.

Latest Intel suggests these spires may be projecting electromagnetic cloaking shields.

"Priority One, pilot. Gotta know what's in there." Jorge's tone was gentle yet forceful.

"Affirmative, sir…Here we go."

We entered the field.

"Lost all power. We're going down."

The Falcon did just that.

"Lock your armour!" Jorge yelled.

_Oh s###! I don't have an armour lock!_

"Brace for a hard landing."

Right as we hit the ground a shadow wrapped around me, spun me upright, and put me down on my feet.

My stomach felt like it was spinning.

I leant over a rock and took off my helmet right before vomiting.

I wiped my mouth of vomit and put my helmet back on.

I scanned the Spire.

Rather than info I got a mini map.

The crew was dead, only the Spartans and I remained.

We used my map and got into the heavily guarded Spire.

We decided that Jorge would cover us than wait for the ride to come.

It was a short flight to the top with a giant grav-lift.

After some trouble with Elites, we deactivated the Electro-Magnetic field.

The falcon appeared at the side of the sire and Jet, Hawkwolf, and I jumped over the ledge and Jorge helped us up.

Carter was in there too.

"Control? This is Noble One. Spire One is green, and you're free to engage. Have a nice day." He said.

"Copy that, Noble One. Be advised, all ground units: Frigate Three-One-Eight heavy is inbound, and MAC rounds have been authorized."

"MAC rounds? In atmosphere?"

Jorge asked, not the only one that was surprised.

"One way to get their attention. Hang on to your teeth, People."

The UNSC frigate flew over the spire and destroyed it, but before he MAC round could disappear, the ship was glassed by a materializing Super-Carrier overhead.

I was speechless.

New contact. High-tonnage. I didn't need DOT to tell me that. I could see it for myself.

"No. No! Somebody tell me this ain't happening?" There was real panic in Jorge's voice.

"UNSC frigate Grafton, Do you copy?" Air control was trying, but I could see that they would get no response. So many lives gone so fast.

"Grafton is dust! We need to get out of here now!" The same edge of panic was evident in Carter's voice.

The pilot had no hesitation to get away.

"…"


	12. Long night of Solace sort of

**Sorry this took so long to update, I've been busy writing some other unpublished stories and reading ****_The Kane Chronicles_**** and ****_Percy Jackson and the Olympians._**

"Ughhn…" I collapse to my knees and start panting as I am consumed by another shadowy flame taking parts of my body to another time.

Jet works as my medic, because I can't tell anyone else about this.

It's been this way for a few days.

We've taken shelter in a Cliffside cave after our falcon crashed.

"It's ok. It's only your left knee tendon. You don't need it. I think." Jet finished wrapping a bandage around my knee.

"I need more pain reliever." I whined.

He went back up to the front of the cave with the other Spartans to get more supplies.

"Is he doing any better?

"He was injured in the badly in the crash and he's in too much of an emotional state to see any of you."

I really hated this story but it was all Jet and I could come up with.

I swallowed the tablets as a Scarab marched by the Cliffside, entangled in a huge battle with UNSC forces.

Our foe is more devious then we had imagined. DOT understated.

That spire was indeed a teleporter linked to a cloaked, Covenant Supercarrier…A grave threat. Thankfully help is imminent. Sixty percent of the UNSC fleet is en route to Reach from existing deployments. The first battle group should arrive in forty-eight hours.

"Forty-eight hours? That's imminent?" The pilot complained.

"Quit whining." Hawkwolf said as if he'd been in the predicament thousands of times before.

"I'm not whining; I'm complaining. Thhhiiisss iiisss wwwhhhiiininggg-"

"Shut up!" Everyone shouted.

We then noticed Kat and Carter arguing.

"Tell me what happens" I gestured for Jet to go to the front of the cave.

He followed Jorge, Jun, and Emile.

"What's going on?"

Carter turned to Kat. "Go ahead. Explain."

Kat reached for Emile's knife; but he reached his hand up and stopped her.

"May I?"

"Don't cut yourself." Emile handed her the knife.

"Objective? Destroy Covenant Carrier in geosynchronous orbit above us." Kat drew something in the ground but I could not see it because I was at the far back of the cave.

"This sanctioned, sir?" Jorge asked.

"What do you think?"

"Oh."

"Method? A slip-space drive in lieu of the nukes we don't have. Delivery system? Us. Solvable? Getting us up there. That, and getting our hands on a slip-space drive." Kat explained further.

"So…all we need is orbit-capable transport, and the single most expensive piece of equipment made by man?"

"As a soldier in the field I couldn't possibly have access to those kinds of resources. That said, a good place to look might be…I don't know, the nearest nonexistent launch site in the nonexistent Sabre Program, dismissed by three administrations as preposterous rumor…And in which our newest member was certainly never a pilot. All we need is a green light from Holland,"

"Good luck with that."

"You're the one asking him." She tossed him her Data-Pad.

"Oh, there's no way in h### he's gonna go for this."

I'm not sure what happened next because I passed out. Again.

Next thing I knew I was in a Falcon and Jet was hiding my arm.

No one else seemed to be paying attention.

"Why can't I move my arm?"

He held up my arm; and my eyes widened under my visor because as it was made of solid shadows.

"What the…?"

/Your important body parts are being replaced with shadows. /

/It's like your body in this time is becoming a Masutātorikkusuta. /

"Why am I here If I'm not in good condition?"

"You're feeling better. Now live up to my story or I'll get in trouble."

"Time to go." Jet pressed a button on his helmet.

_Why didn't I get a com?_

We jumped out of the falcon but I landed on my face.

The numbness left my arms and I got up.

We charged up the beach, I went around on some rocks to avoid some fighting.

Mostly because I didn't want to terrify myself by controlling Covenant with my Masutātorikkusuta hand.

I did have to fight a few Elites though.

The fight lacked anything I feared.

When we reached the facility, I was greeted by an anvil, a piano, and a horse-drawn cart crushing me and increasing my pain.

When I got up I saw a marine with a Jet pack, grey and green armour and her eyes seemed to always be facing different directions.

"Sorry. My bad."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Derpy. I will be assisting you on your mission today."

_Hey Dark Assassin? Exactly how bad did we mess up the space time continuum? _

Three elites jumped out from behind some rocks.

Derpy killed one, I shot at another but it got to me before it was dead.

He lunged at me; but right as the Energy Sword began to pierce my armour, I reached my shadow hand into its skull, and it stopped in place.

I twisted my hand and he turned around.

I thrust my hand forward and he lunged and stabbed the third Elite.

I then withdrew my hand and he dropped dead.

But Derpy flung a few muffins at him just for good measure.

"What was that?" Derpy asked.

I shrugged.

The rest of noble showed up.

"Who's this?" Hawkwolf asked.

"Derpy. She's helping us on our mission."

Jet could not help but laugh.

We entered the facility.

The thin metal grate bridges made me nervous it would fall as we walked on it, but it proved sturdy.

We advanced to a twin Sabers Jet and Jorge got in one, and I got in the back of the other.

Hawkwolf began to climb in, but Derpy stopped him.

"Don't worry! I'm great at flying!" She climbed in and pressed a button to close the cockpit; but she ended up with a severe electric shock that I'm not sure how she survived.

"Yeah… Maybe you should just go." She climbed down and Hawkwolf got in.

After a system check, we were cleared for launch.

We blasted off into the air.

I could smell the fuel burning.

We flew up and the large fuel tanks detached and the Sabre's main engine kicked in.

Jet and Jorge were ahead of us by a lot.

But then a shadow portal, similar to the one that saved me at the spire, appeared in front of our Sabre.

Before Hawkwolf could maneuver we were sucked in.

We flew only a few meters through total darkness before emerging at the Station.

"What was that?" Hawkwolf asked after being stunned a few moments.

"Uhhh… Yeah…. I kinda forgot to tell you about that… Oh well I'll just explain later."

"A bit early, huh? We didn't even see you show up."

"I know."

"Okay... well while the other Sabre teams get here, why don't help us get the Defense System online? Please?"

"We're on our way."

Hawkwolf rolled the ship and did a turn so we were now parallel with the station.

He did a slow bank into the hanger and then slowed us down to a hover and landed.

We got out.

A Spartan in Recruit Prime armour walked up.

He had a SAW slung across his back and a fork in one hand and a plate with a slice of Birthday Cake in the other.

"Ah, yes. Follow me. The briefing room is this way. Name's Jarrod." He said and turned away.

We followed him.

I knew these stations pretty well, and I'm pretty sure the direction he was leading us was not the way to the briefing room. Unless somehow my time journey changed the way they were built, but I said nothing.

We entered a room which definitely wasn't the briefing room.

Candy wrappers, soda cans, paper plates, and beer bottles littered the floor.

Drunk and sleeping Spartans were lying on various couches and a single table with a near empty two liter bottle of Dr. Pepper and a half eaten birthday cake.

He sliced three slices gave one to Hawkwolf and I and put a new slice on his plate.

What he next surprised me though: He replaced the bullets in his magazine with a carefully cut out rectangle of cake.

"In case of emergencies." He explained.

"Now, follow me. The briefing room is this way." He ran out of the room.

We entered the briefing room.

The room was empty except for us, a Spartan with gold and white armour and a backpack, and the commander.

"Hello," He said.

As soon as he started speaking the white and gold Spartan began playing on a red Nintendo DS.

"You were told we would be getting the guns back online, but I have a… secret mission for you."

This got my attention.

"We have detected a covenant bioweapon on the surface of reach."

_Hmm…. Bioweapon…_

"We've tried to attack it but we can't get though it's shield and it has incredible firepower. It may just be the most powerful thing known in the universe."

_Bioweapon… Most powerful thing in the universe… Ugh! This sounds so familiar. I should know this._

/Decline the mission. /

"I accept." I said.

I swear I could almost hear the Dark Assassin face palm in my head.

Hawkwolf nodded.

"Yeah. Sure." The white and gold Spartan said.

I wasn't sure he heard any of the briefing.

The other Spartan accepted.

"Alright. Get to the drop pod bay now." He ordered.

"We're taking drop pods?" I asked, realizing how stupid that must sound coming from an ODST.

I got into my drop pod and the door slammed shut.

Out of habit I checked every little part of the pod making sure I would have a safe drop.

The pod moved to dropping position.

Live videos of Hawkwolf and the White and gold Spartan flickered to life on the tow screens in the pod.

I got a better look at his helmet.

'Jag' was scribbled in sloppy handwriting,

The pods dropped.

If you ever get the chance to go for an aerobatic ride in an open cockpit plane, take the zero G feeling, but make it about One-Hundred times more powerful and imagine seeing the Earth charging towards you at several hundred kilometers per hour and think _Gee, hundreds of troopers have died doing this, I'll be fine!_

That about sums up an ODST drop.

When I made my first drop I thought it would be fine, but when I made it I was just as terrified as I am today.

I raced down passed Jet and Jorge.

"Guys? Where'd you go?"

"Long story. We're taking these pods down to fight on the surface."

"Ok, then."

"Keep an eye on Jorge, okay?"

We lost connection as my pod burst into flames in the atmosphere.

Down, down, down.

I passed the cloud layer and then saw what we were up against: A huge living crossover of a Scarab and Super Carrier.

It was a mutated cyborg snake-like being with six large mechanical legs.

It had cleansing beams on the bottom of its feet and in its mouth, its back was lined with two Anti-Aircraft guns and a spire.

It left a large trail of glass on the sandy surface of Reach.

Our pods aren't gonna make it through that shield!

No response.

I closed my eyes as I prepared for impact.

But then the falling feeling quickly changed to a floating feeling and my pod shifted to a horizontal position.

I opened my eyes and me and the others were floating in a shadowy void, my view swirled and then our burnt pods were laying neatly on the scaly top of the bioweapon.

I opened my pod and climbed out.

I stumbled over.

_You keep helping me, why? Aren't you supposed to be __**Evil**__ alien dude?_

/Are you complaining? /

_No, just curious._

/You only have a few hours left before the extraction is complete and you get killed by Jun, and your wasting your time to kill him first. /

Everyone else stumbled out of there pods.

"Only a few hours!? Why didn't you say so?!" I yelled aloud.

Everyone stared at me.

"Nothing. Just yelling at the telepathic evil alien in my head."

/I tried to tell you. /

"That's a little… weird." Hawkwolf says.

"Ah, I've seen weirder" Jag shrugged.

"What was that?" Jarod asked, but Hawkwolf had experienced a similar situation earlier and Jag seemed like he did this every day.

"We landed in the elevator." I said and to my surprise he nodded like that made sense.

We began heading for the Spire.

"You think they'll see us?" Jag asked as we passed an AA gun.

"Nah. We'd be tiny dots to anyone that could see us. Probably think we're technicians."

"And they're all down there" Jarrod pointed to the large covenant army around the bioweapon that we just happened not to notice.

"Better not fall of. Let's keep moving." Said Hawkwolf.

We walked until we reached the spire.

We saw a bit more company around the spire.

"Anyone have any bright ideas on how to get in?" Hawkwolf asked.

I looked up.

"I dunno. But I want to blow it up!" Jag said.

"We could… Go and pretend we want the operator's autograph." Jarod suggested.

"Thought I'd try shooting our way in. Mix things up a little." I said, not realizing that no one would get the joke for a few years.

"Wait! I've got cardboard boxes!"

This is never going to work. I said from under my cardboard box.

I heard footsteps.

Grunts from the sound of them.

We waited for them to pass and then crawled along.

It was only a few minutes but it felt like forever: starting and stopping a literally crawling pace.

We reached gravity lift.

We went to the top of the Spire and quickly hid under our boxes again because there were havily armed guards.

I heard footsteps.

I lifted up m box a few centimeters to peek out.

An Elite had walked up to Jag's box and was staring at it suspiciously.

He grabbed the box and threw it aside leaving Jag crouched there with an odd exclamation mark floating above his head.

He spun himself around and knocked the Elite off his feet and jumped on him and impaled him with his combat knife.

He stuffed the body in a box and hid back under his own as another Elite who was less intelligent passed by.

I popped out from under my box and stuffed my nonexistent hand into the back of his head.

I hid behind him and willed him to walk towards the rest of the Covenant in the room.

They were easy to take down because they didn't expect it and we had explosives. Yes, lots of those.

I dropped the Elite.

I went over to the holo-computer and began messing with the shield controls.

"No need." Jag and the others walked out of the room which was now filled with explosives.

We walked out to the ledge.

"And how exactly did you plan on getting down?" I asked.

"Jump. We'll use your magical teleporty thing."

"Well you see I don't exactly have control-" Jag pushed me over the edge and jumped.

_Please help._

Nothing.

I hit the scaly back and crashed through flesh and blood and metal supports and found myself at its heart.

The covenant had built a room that wasn't gross except for the hole I made.

Everyone else came crashing through the ceiling giving me a nice shower of snake guts.

The heart was contained in a transparent cylinder filled with fluid.

A cloaked figure crouched by it and was feeding a rope made of shadows like my hand into it.

/I was so young then. /

Now this is really confusing: I have an alien in my head, I'm in the past standing face to face wit the same alien but from the past.

The shadow curled around the heart and squeezed into it.

"Too late, I control this place" He flicked his hand and mechanical arms reached from the walls and ceiling and grabbed us.

I smirked under my helmet and flicked my hand in the opposite direction and the arms flew over and grabbed him.

"Heretic!"

Great. Now he thinks I'm a Mousupotatorcoopasoup or whatever those things are called.

He flicked his hand and a blade of shadows materialized in his hand.

"Cool! Can I do that!" I flicked my hand and a mop materialized in my hand.

"Aww, come on!" I complained.

I looked back and found the others unconscious from the fall.

Another sword spawned in his left hand and two sword wielding arms of shadow sprouted out of his back.

"You gotta be kidding me."

He spun the blades masterfully and began walking towards me.

I played along and backed up as I thought of a plan.

Nothing came to mind so I jabbed into the twirling blades and my mop was rejected but surprisingly wasn't sliced.

I jabbed again with the same result and almost last my balance,

I jabbed a third time with unexpected speed and twirled my sword counter clockwise and slipped it down his blade and hit his second right wrist and it his whole second wright arm, sword and all, disintegrated.

His second left arm shifted to the center of his back and went above his head like a scorpion tail.

He swung at me with his normal left arm and I blocked and used the advantage to stab at his chest but my mop was deflected by his tail/arm.

I was stunned a second and he kicked me backwards into the air.

I was hoping to land on my feet and charge at him again but I landed on my back and lost my mop.

I tried to get up bet he teleported over to me and held me down with his foot on my chest.

It hurt more than I expected.

He pushed so hard my chest plate began cracking.

He pointed his third sword at my throat.

"Any last words?" He asked.

"Nah."

This surprised him just enough to allow me to backflip (Which I can't do) and kick him (A lot harder than I can).

_What's happening?_

/ The link between you now and you in the future is getting stronger. /

_Cool._

I summoned back my mop, preparing to finish him, but then he turned into a shadow and felt his presence leave. He had teleported away.

And just in time to, because a shower of bullets hit right where he was standing.

I discarded my mop.

A pelican landed through the large hole we had made which seemed to be growing.

A team of marines got out and set up explosives around the heart.

Some medics retrieved my friends and I got in.

It was full of Spartans but I didn't talk to them because I fell asleep as soon as I sat down.

_"A few hours" _He had said.

I needed to find Noble Team ASAP.


	13. Exodus

"Agh!" I woke with a start.

"How long have I been out!? Am I dead!?"

"Relax," a female Spartan said.

"It was only a few minutes."

Hawkwolf was awake.

The marines piled in and we took off.

Smoke rose from the top of the destroyed spire.

The pelican did some evasive maneuvers as we avoided shots from the Covenant bioweapon.

"Sorry about those," I said.

"Jag pushed us off the spire before we could finish all of them."

"It's all right," She said.

"You got the shield down. I'm not sure how you did it though."

Hawkwolf turned around from a chat with another Spartan.

"'Cause I'm just that awesome. Anything new? He said.

Jag looked out the side of the pelican.

I looked to see what he was looking at.

A blast of plasma hit the side of the pelican.

"We're hit" One of the Spartans yelled as the Pelican shook.

"No, really?" Hawkwolf asked sarcastically.

I looked back out and the bioweapon was exploding.

Chunks of falling, exploding… stuff was crushing the surrounding Covenant armies.

"I'll go make sure they're all dead" Jag said as he jumped out.

"I hate it when he does that." One of the Spartans mumbled.

"You guy's all know each other?" I asked.

"Yeah, this is my team and we used to train with Jag."

"Oh. So you're the leader?"

"Yup."  
"Think you could get them to swing by New Alexandria?" I asked.

"I need to get back to Noble team."

"Yeah. But I think you owe me some explanations."

"Later. Not in front of everyone."

"I'm getting back to Anchor 9 as soon as you guys let me off." Said Jarod.

"Pilot. Can you take us to New Alexandria?" Hawkwolf asked.

"New Alexandria, but not the New Alexandria airport. They hit the fuel tank. We'll just barely make it."

"Ok."

"The top of some really expensive looking building in New Alexandria coming up in 3 seconds!"

I blacked out for a second when we crashed.

I was afraid I'd fallen asleep, but I was able to open my eyes.

One of the Spartans helped me up.

"Plan?"

Hawkwolf thought a moment.

"We head to the New Alexandria airstrip on the other side of town. We'll take an evac Pelican from there."

A Spartan looked over the side of the building.

"The streets are crammed with Covenant. How are we supposed to get there?" He asked.

Hawkwolf studied the rooftops as if to decide a path across them.

"We'll travel by makeshift bridges and long jumps to the Traxus building. There should be Jet Packs there that will get us to the airport faster."

Apparently he was deciding a rout.

He ran to the edge of the building and vaulted over the edge.

We followed his lead and had a dramatic landing on the ledge of a smaller building.

Amendment: The Spartans had a dramatic landing. Mine was on my face.

The next building was higher.

I jumped onto a windowsill and climbed up using impaled Street lamps and ledges.

The next building was even higher. But instead of climbing it we crashed through the window and took the elevator.

It went on like this for about twenty buildings before we reached the Traxus building.

The bad news? It was way too far away for any of us to jump.

The good news is there was a random construction crane on top of the building.

We decided to use it for a makeshift bridge.

One of the Spartans extended the arm, impaling Traxus Tower.

The bridge shook in the wind as we carefully crept across.

About halfway through some Banshee pilots realized how awesome we were and that they would get they're a## kicked if they didn't take us out.

"Banshees!"

"No, really? I thought those were penguins!" I shouted back at The terrified Spartan as I grabbed hold of a sturdy looking support cable.

I closed my eyes as the flash of light no more than ten feet away from me broke a large section of the arm off; sending me swinging on my no longer sturdy cable.

I saw several Spartans fall, and a few more dangle in place on more cables.

The dangling ones were lucky.

A little less than half the bridge was sticking out of Traxus Tower, and I was swinging back towards it.

I became the ultimate Spartan, got possessed by an evil alien, traveled back in time, dropped from orbit, put up with Jag for a few hours (Definitely the worst part of all), and mop dueled a four armed alien; only to die of being impaled on a broken crane.

I couldn't breathe.

Someone had spilled red paint all over the edge… or _I_ spilled a lot of _blood_ on the edge.

I looked down.

A piece of sharp metal had cut open my lung.

_How long until my longs are Mousupotatorcoopasoup-afied?_

/Only minutes. /

/Can you last that long? /

_Maybe._

It was minutes, but it felt like hours.

I could feel the shadow burning up my body, and I hoped desperately they'd reach my lungs in time.

Evidently I'm not that lucky.

_I can't make it._

My heart came to a slow stop and I blacked out.

I heard a sound like a barbeque igniting and black flame danced across the darkness.

The light blinded me when the world came back.

I breathed hard.

I never thought I'd miss the feeling of having air in my lungs so much.

I pulled myself up and cheered like an idiot.

Then I realized they might find it odd seeing I had a big hole in my chest.

I twisted the armour shut where the holes where.

Better to have them wonder why my armor was twisted up than to wonder why I had a hole in my chest.

Hawkwolf, Jerrod and a few other Spartans dropped down.

"Glad you're Okay… whoa… that's a lot of blood. Where'd the come from?"

"I spilled my cherry Kool-Aid." I said sarcastically.

We sprinted a few meters to the Traxus building and crashed through a window.

We went out on a porch and found an open gate with Jet Packs lining the wall.

We grabbed them and used them to get to the Air strip and 'borrowed an evac Pelican'.

"If I could avoid dying next time that would be nice." I said for the sake of causing confusion as we flew back towards sword base to meet Jet.


End file.
